The Pines no longer shines in the Catskills

Thursday

Aug 30, 2007 at 2:00 AM

The Pines resort is trashed. There was a time when joyous, chattering vacationers streamed through the hallways of the Pines. Old postcards show happy couples lounging on the concrete arch that bridged the kidney-shaped outdoor pool. That era is long gone, and the one-time attraction has become a dilapidated nuisance.

Heather Yakin

South Fallsburg — The Pines resort is trashed.

There was a time when joyous, chattering vacationers streamed through the hallways of the Pines. Old postcards show happy couples lounging on the concrete arch that bridged the kidney-shaped outdoor pool. That era is long gone, and the one-time attraction has become a dilapidated nuisance.

Over the past few years, vandals, arsonists and thieves stripped the old resort of its dignity. The Carleton staff building burned in 2003, the old day care went up in flames on July 20 and the Ritz staff quarters burned on Aug. 8. Thieves have stripped buildings of copper pipes and electrical wiring.

Mold and moss grow on the ceilings, the walls, the floors. Jagged glass juts out of window frames and litters the ground. The Pines has been closed since a developer bought the property from the Ehrlich family at the end of 1998. But the buyer, The Fallsburg Estates LLC, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2002 and challenged the property assessments. The tax case was finally resolved in July. The company paid a $1 million settlement for back taxes, and the hotel assessment was lowered in steps to $500,000.

Meanwhile, the old hotel became a party hangout, a squatters' den and an easy target.

The 96-acre hotel parcel is fenced, but the chain-link isn't keeping anyone out. The gates are wide open.

"We've tried everything," said Steve Proyect, a local consultant for The Fallsburg Estates LLC and its subsidiaries before the Planning Board. "I have personally put chains around the front gates, leading toward the golf course on, I can count five occasions."

The developers have padlocked and boarded over the buildings' doors. They've had people watch the property. Nothing works.

"I have been friends with the Ehrlichs," Proyect said. "It hurts me when I drive by."

At 400 rooms, the Pines wasn't the biggest of the resorts that boomed during the Catskills heyday, but stars such as Buddy Hackett, Robert Goulet and Tito Puente played its nightclubs. The place had indoor and outdoor pools, tennis courts, an ice-skating rink, a ski hill and a golf course, as well as card rooms that were legendary with guests and locals alike.

Proyect said the development plans for 300 to 400 homes on the hotel, golf course and ski chalet properties are going forward, and a draft environmental impact statement is being prepared. Proyect said it's not clear what the ultimate fate of the hotel buildings will be — but most they likely will be demolished.